


Nana May

by StarlightDreamer21



Series: Genuary 2021 [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Background May & Daisy, Character Study, Everyone on the team has children, Gen, Nana May, Post-Canon, relationships mentioned in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29089860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightDreamer21/pseuds/StarlightDreamer21
Summary: If someone had told Melinda May while she was in admin that she would one day be known as Nana May to her team’s children, she would have sent them to medical to get checked for head trauma. And would have probably refused Coulson’s offer.
Relationships: Agents of SHIELD Team & Melinda May
Series: Genuary 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099760
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37
Collections: Genuary 2021





	Nana May

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this this morning so hopefully it's good! This is my first character study (or at least I think that's what this is) and it is full of cuteness in the form of lots of grandchildren. I hope you enjoy!

If someone had told Melinda May while she was in admin that she would one day be known as Nana May to her team’s children, she would have sent them to medical to get checked for head trauma. And would have probably refused Coulson’s offer.

Even a few years in she would have thought it was a crazy idea. Of course, she never wanted to die or have any of her team to die, but she knew the odds in this job weren’t great. She never allowed herself to think of life’s possibilities after the mission was over.

When Coulson passed away in Tahiti, there was a large part of her that felt like she would die in the field. She was as good as they came, but she would stop at nothing to honor his dying wish to protect their family, even if it went against his other wish for her to enjoy a happy retirement.

She thought she had accomplished her goal when she saved Daisy from Sarge and Izel. Stabbed straight through the body, bleeding on the cold hard ground, looking up at Daisy who was unharmed. She felt at peace. She had accomplished her mission and she was ready to go.

And then she came back. Different, but alive. And Coulson was back to. In sentient robot form, but back as well.

If May could feel her own emotions, she knew she would have felt angry, yet relieved at being brought back, disheartened that she couldn’t feel Coulson’s emotions, and tired. She was ready for a break. The team might have brought her back but after this final mission, they didn’t need her in the field anymore.

She knew her decision would upset Daisy, but the girl tried her best to hide the emotions. May did her best to reassure her pseudo daughter that she was always welcome to visit and that she could call whenever she wanted.

She also vividly remembers the moment she was first called Nana May. After they defeated the Chronicoms and made sure Daisy was stable, the whole team gathered back at base. She couldn’t exactly say she was surprised when Fitz walked in carrying a tiny blonde child, but she was amazed. The child hid her face in her father’s shoulders and May was suddenly glad it was only the immediate team in the room minus Daisy, Daniel and Kora who were still in the med bay.

But then, Jemma said, “Alya, would you like to meet your family? From all the pictures?” And the child – Alya – lifted her head and began looking around, studying everyone’s faces. And then her little eyes landed on May and she smiled, “Nana May!”

Despite having no emotions, May felt her stomach drop and a small little gasp catch in her throat. She felt nothing else but knew she would be feeling shock, astonishment and even maybe a slight amount of fear at the child’s words.

“Yup, that’s Nana May and Papa Coulson. And Uncle Mack and Auntie YoYo.” Fitz said with the softest smile May had seen on his face in a long time.

“But where’s Auntie Daisy?” Alya asked with a creese in her brow looking at her mother.

“She got an injury a little bit ago baby so she’s resting. We will go see her in a few minutes,” Jemma said brushing the hair away from the child’s eyes.

May will admit that the rest of the night and most of the immediate days following were a blur. She spent a lot of time getting to know sweet little Alya and making sure Daisy was recovering properly. After that, they all dived head first into their next projects. 

She began designing, recruiting, and preparing Coulson Academy. FitzSimmons went house hunting and began a full house remodel to incorporate a SHIELD caliber lab. Mack began rebuilding SHIELD again under Coulson’s guidance. Elena and Piper got field missions up and running. And Daisy and Daniel prepared for another space mission.

Eventually it was time for them to all part ways. May could feel the extreme emotions radiating off of everyone around her that it somewhat felt like they were her own.

She promised to visit Alya and her parents in Scotland and made Daisy promise to either call or send encrypted messages twice a week. She wished Coulson happy travels and reminded him to come home eventually. 

And then they dispersed. 

For the first time in years, May felt like she could breathe. There was no world ending crisis on the horizon. She wasn’t battling her own daemons. There was nothing in her way of relaxing and enjoying whatever life she had left on this planet to live. She finally allowed herself to start thinking of the future and what it may hold.

But May had never been the most creative, nor had she ever expected to have such a large family.

First, Mack got Bobbi and Hunter cleared with all foreign governments and while they weren’t allowed back in Shield, they could come home. And with them came two beautiful children, Bailey and Max, who quickly picked up the moniker of Nana May.

Then came another Fitzsimmons child, Dylan, who was a wild child and liked getting into trouble with Max.

Robin also came back into the picture. While the child has lost most of her memories/visions of May being her mother, they still had a special bond. After a short time spent with Alya and Bailey, she too had began referring to May as Nana May. While it wasn’t the same as the timeline when she was the girl’s mother, May much preferred this future where Robin got to keep Polly and live a normal life.

Mack and Elena also had a growing family. Not long after Dylan was born, they had a baby girl, Faith, and two years later they had Jasmine. They of course also had Flint who spent most of his free time away from the Academy at home with his new family. And even though he would refer to her as Professor May on campus, she was fondly known as Nana May to him as well when around his siblings and cousins.

That only left Daisy. The original space crew only ended up staying together on space missions for two years before Daisy and Daniel decided to settle down. May watched as Daisy quickly became every child’s favorite Aunt. She had already wormed her way into Alya’s heart but Bobbi and Elena were rather displeased when after only months of her being home full time, the rest of the kids fell under her charm as well.

May should have expected that growing up surrounded by kids, that Daisy would be an expert with them, but it had been so long since the girl had been this carefree that it did momentarily take her back. She was also happy to see that Daniel loved spoiling his nieces and nephews as well.

It came as no surprise to her when Daisy and Daniel announced that they were going to adopt. Daisy had expressed several times over the years that she had no intention of having her own children, that if she somehow survived long enough to want kids, she would adopt. And May knew Daniel, with his big heart, would have jumped at the opportunity to be a positive influence on children who needed it.

And that was how May found herself being introduced to twins, Mia and Noah, as Nana May. She loved all her grandkids equally (and trust her, she still couldn’t believe she thought of herself as a grandmother) but Daisy’s kids were special, because Daisy is special.

Daniel only worked part time so he could be home with the kids after school, but May would spend a lot of time with them whenever both parents were needed at base or on a mission. Mia was a spitfire who reminded her of herself and of Daisy during her Skye days. Noah was an absolute sweetheart who loved to cook with Daniel or Coulson and make robots.

Just over a year later, Daisy and Daniel also adopted an 18-month-old baby girl whose parents died in a horrific SHIELD mission. And at this point, May knew her family was likely complete.

May had never had any kids of her own. The desire flew off in a matter of seconds in Bahrain. Yet the universe had bigger plans for her. 

First, she found Daisy, who she looked at as a daughter. A girl who never had a family growing up and who’s biological family turned out to be a nightmare situation. But this girl, who wears her heart on her sleeve, chose May to be her mother figure – a fact that May cherishes everyday.

And somewhere along the way, the rest of the team became family too. Jemma and Fitz were no longer the clunkily untrained science kids, but were capable persistent adults who had their own parents, but thought of her as another anyways.

She never thought of Mack or Elena as anything other than friends and colleagues, but both of their parents had already passed and May felt blessed to have the honor of filling a role for their children. The same was true for Bobbi and Hunter and she thanked Mack for not giving up until they were back with their family.

May never expected to have a family or be a grandmother, but right now, sitting in a nursery, rocking her youngest granddaughter to sleep, she knew being Nana May was exactly who she was always meant to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Huntingbird's and Dousy's kids are from my other one-shots. It seemed fitting. Let me know if there's anything you want to see more of!


End file.
